Week 7 : Family of Service
“In the presence of another member of your family of service, that loneliness may ease a little.”
Reading: Read Section IV. From this section, choose one chapter that resonates in some significant way with you and share either it or the concept that resonates with you with someone you think will appreciate it, ideally someone from your “family of service.”
Kind Action: I was thrilled when I first read the chapter “How the World is Made.” It is based on a concept from a Kurt Vonnegut novel. Given my affinity for Kurt Vonnegut, this week’s action just had to be based on this chapter. First, consider the concept of a “karass” in order to find someone outside of your family you feel deeply connected to. Having chosen this person, acknowledge her/his importance to you by doing something kind for her/him, something that resonates deeply for you and recognizes this person’s uniqueness.
Blessings Journal: Write down the names of people from your life that you feel or have felt a deep connection to. Did you feel this connection immediately or over time? Also, pay attention to the people you encounter this week, those you know and strangers. If something meaningful occurs to you because of this, take note of it in your journal.
Link to Book: “My Grandfather’s Blessings”
Kind Living 
“But what IS important is how we go about doing our part. Simply, in everything we do our job is to behave in a positive, mindful way.”
I have had negative reactions to comments made by my neighbors here at the lake recently. In each case, someone was complaining about others that they percieved were having an impact on the quality of their life here on the lake.
I was uncomfortable with the negativity and was bewildered as to how to keep from adding to it by sympathizing with the complainer.
I have been musing this week on the idea that the people here on the lake are not alike at all, but have gravitated here because they want to have an experience of living close to nature with people who appreicate the same thing.
For the first time in eight years, I felt that the quality of my experience was being diminished because of expressed negativity towards neighbors. In the last instance, I tried to remain neutral or even came up with positive statements about the action their neighbor had taken. It was not easy, but I now consciously trying to behave in a “positive, mindful way” in my neighborhood.